The Blooming of the Lady of The Night
by Isa-love-anime
Summary: This story is parallel to Battle City: A girl get moved from Tokyo to Domino, where Yugi and his friends live. In school, she enter to their class, where all of them become friends. But what will happen when the Tournament begin? CHAP. 9 UP!
1. Chapter 1: The New Girl

**The Blooming of the Lady of the Night**

Normal Text – Narration

'_Italic' _– Thinking

"With inverted commas" – Related by Character/Character Speech

Chap. 1 – The new Girl 

It was just another normal day in the city of Domino. Yugi and the his friends were inside their High School classroom, talking the daily routines of their lives. After all of the events of Duelist Kingdom, they were back at school, now with the acompany of Duke Devlin.

Siting in their usual seats, the classmates were talking feverously, when suddently the teacher came in and reported to the class:

"Hello students, this year we will have a new student with us, so let me introduce her" the teacher gestured with his hand towards the door, "This is Ann Midnite, our new colleague," he introduced, "she just moved from Tokyo to here."

A girl came into the room. Wearing the school uniform, she smiled at her new classmates. She had long brown hair, reaching down to her waist, and had equally brown eyes. She was very beautiful and seemed to be a kind girl.

'_Cool, she seems to be very nice.' _Yugi thought.

Joey's thoughts, however, were more on her physical appearence._ 'Wow...she's very cute!' _He thought.

The teacher indicated for Ann to sit in the seat behind Yugi, saying, "Fine, you can sit there, just behind Mutou."

She agreed and walked over to the empty seat. Smiling, she sat down and held out her hand to the boy. "Hi! I'm Ann," she said, shaking hands with him, "What's yout name?"

"My name is Yugi Mutou," he smiled, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

She smiled too and then concentrated on the lesson. Later, in the interval, Yugi introduced Ann to the rest of the gang.

"Guys, this is the new student, Ann," he announced.

"Hi Ann!" Tea greeted, "I'm Tea Gardner."

Yugi then indicated to the other two boys. "Ann, those are Tristan and Joey," he told her.

Tristan got up and shood hands with the girl, smiling. When he finished introduncing himself, Joey walked over to Ann quickly and said in a cheerful tone, "Hi!! The name's Joey Wheeler, at your disposal!" he softly grabbed her hand, "it's always good to meet new people, especially a beautiful girl like you."

"Oh... thanks, Joey" she griggled.

He smiled too, enjoying how cute her laught was. After the introductions, they started to talk, and Ann told them that she was sixteen years old and that she had moved a while ago because of her mother's job.

"But I'm living alone near here, because my mom is always traveling," she said.

"Alone? You don't mind?" Yugi asked.

"No no, I'm already accustomed. My mom has always worked a lot."

Over next few days, they got to be best friends, Ann always walked with them and the gang all loved her company. She was very funny, too.

One week later, Tea was showing everybody in the class to her.

"That one in the back is Bakura. He's kinda shy, but he's very nice" she indicated to the boy with silver hair, "He had some problems last year, but he's a great person."

Tea called Bakura over and introduced him to Ann.

"Hey Bakura, this is Ann Midnite, our new classmate!" she told him.

"Oh yes... I remember" he replied. He turned to greet her, shyly smiling.

"Hi Bakura, it's a pleasure to meet you! Tea has told me that you're very symphatic... and it look's like it's true," she said and smiled.

"Really?" he asked, a confused look coming upon his face, "Well... thank you."

Ann said that was nothing, and the boy blushed, walking back to his seat at the end of the classroom. She sat again and observed the room. Then she turned to Tea again and asked, "Hm... and who's that, Tea?" she indicated to a boy with blue eyes sitting in the middle of the classroom.

Tea looked over to the boy that she had pointed at and said, with an indifferent expression, " Oh, that one? It's Kaiba."

Ann's eyes widened surprisingly and turned to Tea in a quick motion. "Kaiba?? **Seto Kaiba**???"

"...Yeah, why?" she looked intriguinly at Ann.

"Wow, he's famous! I didn't knew he was still in school!" she gasped, turning around and looking him again.

Kaiba was sitting at his desk, reading a book. When he found out that he was being watched, he closed the book and looked in the girl's direction. When he saw her, she immediately looked away, fiercely. He stared her for a while, intrigued with her behaviour, but then he turned back to his book again. Tea become surprised with Ann's reaction and asked, "What's the problem?"

"I...I didn't knew he was so beautiful..." Ann explained, ashamed, still looking him.

Joey, who was near there by, suddenly got angry and jumped inbetween of the girls, saying, "Aaaahh, let's change the subject, ok??" grabbing their arms, he brought them over to where Yugi and Tristan were.

Tea and Tristan exchanged amused looks and griggled. Ann didn't saw that and started to watch what Yugi was doing, interested.

"Yugi, what's that you're doing?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm playing Duel Monsters!" he replied enthusiastically.

He was ordering a lot of cards on the table to the top of a board. Ann watched intensely and then remebered that she knew that game.

"Hey, I know this!" she exclaimed and pointed to the cards.

"You do?" Yugi asked surprisingly and looked at her cheerfuly.

"Yeah, I have some of these cards..." she agreed, "I just don't know how to play."

"Cool!" Joey exclaimed.

"I can teach you one of these days" Yugi proposed to his friend.

"Really? Great!" she cheered "But it will have to be another day, because today I can't."

"Oh, alright," Yugi nodded "we'll figure out something."

Ann happily agreed. She loved having friends like them, friends that were so nice and symphatics. There were just one thing that she wanted to ask Yugi, thought... What was that necklace around his neck...?

**End of the 1st. Chapter**


	2. Chapter 2: Someday

**Chap. 2 – Someday**

It's already been three weeks since Ann had moved to Domino. Like every day, she was with the acompany of Yugi and the others. Full of curiosity, she decided to ask about Yugi's nacklace.

"Um... Yugi, can I ask you something?"

He looked at her and said:

"Sure Ann!"

"Well... What is this necklace of yours? You wear it every day."

Tea was near there too. She looked at Yugi seriously. He thought for a minute and then said to Ann:

"Hmm... I think you can know now... But you won't tell everybody, will you?"

"Oh... You can say anything to me, I won't tell anybody," she whispered, with a curious expression.

"This is called 'Millenium Puzzle'," he started to tell, "It came from the Egypt. My grandfather gave me it in pieces, like a real puzzle, saying if I put togheter all of them, I could keep it to me. But it's not a common puzzle," Yugi looked at the relic, though for a moment and sighed, keeping on talking: "I's a 'Millenium Item'."

Ann was paying attention, fascinated.

"'Millenium... Item'...?"

"Yes," he nodded, "there are objects from Ancient Egypt that have supernatural powers. In the total, there are seven relics, each one with a different force. You may be thinking this is really weird..." he looked at her seriously, "but what I'm going to say now it's more unbelievable."

Ann was listening even more excited.

"Inside my Millenium Puzzle..." Yugi continued, "there's a spirit. He's like an... 'another me', a second personality. Every time there I'm going to duel, I can call him to help me, using the Puzzle. In the past, he helped me to defeat Pegasus at the Duelist's Kingdom. In exchang for that, he wants me to help him to discover his past, because he doesn't remember. I hope you're not thinking I'm lying or that I'm going crazy," he looked at her worriedly.

Ann still was very surprised by the whole story, but smiled and said:

"No way! This is story is fantastic!"

Yugi and Tea exchanged looks and smiled too.

"It's so good that you believed us, Ann!" Tea said, cheerfuly, "we were scared that you could not be our friend anymore because of this... you're very kind."

"For now, the only people who knows about this are us, Joey, Tristan, Kaiba and Bakura..." Yugi explained.

"Oh, don't worry,I will keep it a secret!" Ann said.

"Great! We knew that we could trust you!" the boy smiled.

Then all of them shook their hands and smiled.

----

It was almost evening. Yugi was in the interval with the others, while Ann was in the classroom packing her things. Behind her, she heard some boys talking.

"Hahaha, look how weird he is! With this WHITE HAIR," one of them said teasingly.

"And he's so quiet and good, he looks like a girl!" another boy said.

In the middle of the circle, Ann saw of who they were talking about.

'_Bakura!' _She thought frantically.

He was silent, looking at the ground. While the boys humiliated him, he left the class running, without saying a thing and still looking at the ground. Ann got very annoyed with the group of boys and walked over to them, saying:

"Aren't you ashamed?? He hasn't done anything to you and you keep criticizing him!!!"

"Hey girl, don't get involved! You're new here," the first boy said.

"I can get involved if I want!!!", she said angrily, running out of the class to go find Bakura, "And if you keep doing that, I'll go talk to the principal!"

She ran down the corridor, leaving the guys there with stupid looks on their faces. She started to look through the corridors to find the boy. Then she found him sitting on a stair, his back on her, with his face in his arms. Ann hesitated and stopped right behind him.

"_Is he crying...?", _she thought. Curving a little, she said, "Bakura? It's everything all right...?"

Keeping his back on her, he raised his head, incrediblely surprised. 'S_he's... worried about me?'_ It couldn't be. Only a few people already had worried with him.

Ann became worried when he didn't answer. She was about to ask him again if he was all right, when he suddenly turned aound and threw himself, hugging her.

'_What...?'_, Ann widened her eyes, surprisingly. She had never been hugged by a boy before, especially in that way! Looking down, blushing, she saw that he was really crying, and besides that, he was blushing a lot too.

They satyed that way in silence for a minute, until Bakura left her and got up, fiercely.

Both ashamed, Ann continued to look at him in a surprised way, while he took his hand to the back of his head and said, "Umm... er... I'm sorry... I wasn't..."

"Okay... that's all right. No problem...," she said, blushing, "I... I think Yugi's calling me, so I... I'm going, OK?"

"OK... goodbye", he said.

"Bye bye...!", she said goodbye too, totally red, and ran out with her bagpack, without looking back.

----

While was running, Ann continued thinking about what had just happened.

'_But why he did that...? I was just asking... Oh, this... never happened with me before!'_

In the back of the school, Yugi and the others were waiting for her.

"Hey Ann! Why is your face so red?", Joey asked.

"Oh... It isn't nothing." She stopped and joined them.

----

While he saw the girl going, Bakura stayed there quietly. Then he turned and walked to the other side, going away.

'_Damni't, why did I did that?!', _he thought.

Stopping, he stayed in silence, thinking. Without realizing it, the reflection of Yami Bakura appeared by his side evilly grining.

'_So... my little host is in love with that girl, huh? Huhuhuh... so I think I'll have to introduce myself to her! HAHAHAHAHAHA!'_

**End of the 2nd. Chapter**


	3. Chapter 3: The Battle City

**Chap. 3 – The Battle City**

It was a beautiful weekend. Yugi and Tea had agreed to go to the Museum of the Domino City, to see the Egyptian history exibit. Yugi had insisted for Yami to "go".

"Wow, this exibit is great! Look how many cool things they have here", Tea looked around cheerfully.

"Yeah...", Yami just agreed bored.

Tea saw he was not interested and looked at him, worried.

"What's wrong, Yami?"

"Oh... Well, I'm feeling a little... weird.", he said. Then, not wanting her to be worried, he added, "It's nothing, I just feel that... there's something here that can tell me about my past."

She looked at him surprisedly and said, "Really? Wait... so that means that the answers that you're looking for are here...?"

He thought for a moment and agreed, "Yes. And something is telling me... that this is the way", he indicated to a door in the corner and walked over to it, with Tea following him.

----

While they walked throught the dark corridor, a woman was watching them. She was tall, with long black hair, azure eyes, golden skin and was wearing a good amount of jewellery, including a misterious golden necklace, with the Millenium symbol on it.

'_So, the Pharaoh has finally came back... I have to tell him about the challenge that is coming.'_

_----_

So, Ishizu told them all the story of the Pharaoh and the Shadow Games, as well as the cards of the Three Egyptian Gods and the danger that was near. Yami and Tea left the room in the back of the building confused, but the boy was determined.

"Do you really believed in her story, Yami? I don't know, it sounds so... weird.", Tea said, looking at him.

"I understand what you mean, Tea, but I think it's really true. Something inside me says so. And if it's really true, it means that the world is in danger again, and only I can save it."

But Tea wasn't listening. She was too busy looking at a familiar girl in the Museum.

"Ann!" She said cheerfully.

The girl, who was looking at an Egyptian inscription on the wall, saw them and waved, smiling. She, obviously without the school uniform, was wearing a pink top, with a purple skirt, as well as purple boots and bracelets too.

"Hi Tea! Hi… Yugi?" she looked at him, noticing something different about her friend.

Yami and Tea exchanged looks. Then he turned to Ann, searching his mind for a way to explain the current situation, "Well, Ann... I think we've never 'meet'... I'm the 'other Yugi', but you can call me Yami."

"Oh... Yami. When I saw you, I thought it was Yugi, but you're... different", she said sorry, a little ashamed.

"No problem", he smiled.

"But, Ann, what are you doing here? Do you like Egyptian artifacts?" Tea asked, interested.

"Oh yes! I love Egypt!!!" she answered cheerfully, "Ever since I was a little girl I've loved their culture! The customs and everything... Their stories are very interisting too! This inscription, for example, tells about a city called Hamunap..."

"What??!" Yami interrupted her, looking at her surprisingly, "Can you... can you read this? Hieroglyphics, I mean?"

Ann looked at him for a moment, confused, and then said, "Umm... yes, I can, why?"

"But... how?", he asked.

"My mom tought me... when I was young", she replied, curious about how many questions he was asking.

"Hmm..." Yami and Tea exhanged looks again, impressed. But to not worry Ann, they decided to change the subject.

"Okay, so Ann, are you hanging around?" Tea said smiling at her.

"Oh yes!" she answered, also smiling, "And you? Don't tell me... that you are in a date!" she whispered impressed and then started to giggle.

They both, totally surprised, blushed and quickly replied, "Oh no, no!! We were just... umm.. taking a walk, that's all", they answered fiercely.

"Oh okay, if you say so", she winked.

"Well... so, we're leaving now", Yami said, "it was very nice to see you, Ann."

"Okay, nice to see you too", she smiled, "see you later!"

"Bye!" They waved and were gone.

----

Ishizu was leaving the room where she had meet with the Pharaoh when she saw a girl reading some inscriptions on the wall. She watched curiously at how the girl read and understood all the Hieroglyphs.

'_Interesting...' _Ishizu thought, '_maybe it woud be good to watch this girl's destiny.'_

Then she pulled out the Millennium Necklace, shining brightly on her neck.

----

Later, Yami and Tea were hanging around the city plaza and discusting about what they had heard, when the face of Seto Kaiba appeared in all the TVs in the buildings. Then a helicopter appeared flying overhead all of the people at the plaza.

"What the...?" but Tea couldn't finish her sentence, because the door of the helicopter opened and Kaiba himself appeared. Near there, Ann was watching everything that was happening, as well, with a lot of other people who were there. Yami realized that there were a lot of people standing near him that he knew, including people there he had meet at Duelist Kingdom, including Mai Valentine, who had walked over to them, happy and serious at the same time.

"Hmm, what the hell is Kaiba planning this time?" she indicated to the TVs.

"I don't know, but it doesn't seems to be good..." Yami was looking at the boy up there with a serious expression. The conversation with Ishizu flashed through his mind..._ 'Your true rival is the Priest who lived in the past... the actual Seto Kaiba.'_

"I have came here to announce", Kaiba started to talk from the top of the helicopter, "that from the next week on, this city will be the place of my new tournament, the Battle City!!!"

Everybody was very enthusiastic, either cheerful or confused with his announcement. A Duel Monsters tournament was about to beggin, and the whole city would be the stage this time.

"Tomorrow I will explain the rules and show the new duel devices, created by the scientists of the Kaiba Corporation", he continued, "So you can qualify yourselves and prepare to duel next week. Good luck to you all, you'll need it!!!"

When the helicopter was near the ground, Kaiba jumped and stood beside Yami, an indifferent look on his face, but inside he was very confident. After all, Ishizu had talked to him too. '_The cards of the Three Egyptian Gods... and their powers will be all mine!!!'_

And then he saw Ann. She was a little bit far from the others, so he hadn't saw her yet.

"You're... that girl from school. The one that was looking at me", he said.

"Y-yes, I am...!" Ann was suprised by the fact that he remembered her. Blushing, she added, "A-Ann Midnite..."

He kept silent for a minute, staring at her, and then asked, "Are you going to compete?"

"Oh no... I mean, well, I don't know..." she said thoughtful.

"Hmm." And without another word, he left.

Following him with the eyes, she thought about her place in the tournament. Yes, she would compete. And she would give it her all.

**End of the 3rd. Chapter**


	4. Chapter 4: Teach Me How to Duel!

**Chap. 4 – Teach Me How to Duel!**

Ann was at home, thinking. It would be very interesting to enter Kaiba's Duel Monsters tournament... She just needed sufficient cards to make a deck, as well needed to learn how to duel.

She had just three cards, which were very important to her, because her mother had given them to her when she had been a small child.

Making up her mind, she picked the phone and called Tea.

"Tea Gardner speaking" she answered.

"Hi Tea, it's Ann."

"Oh, hi Ann! How are you?" Tea answered cheerfully.

"I'm fine..." she sighed and said, "Could you do me a favor, Tea?"

"Sure... what?"

"Can you call Yugi, Joey and Tristan and tell them to come to my house? I want to talk with you all."

"Oh... Alright..." Tea said, a little confused with the unexpected invitation for a 'reunion'.

"Thank you so much!" Ann thanked happily "See you later!"

"You're welcome... See ya." She turned off the phone, thinking about why Ann would like to talk with them so suddenly.

----

Later, Yugi, Tea, Joey and Tristan arrived at Ann's house, everyone in doubt of what she wanted to talk about. They rang the bell, and a woman appeared.

"Oh, hi, you must be Ann's friends!" the woman smiled. She was tall, with long dark brown hair, with a ponytail, and grainy green eyes.

"Hmm... You must be her mother, right?" Yugi asked, a little ashamed.

"Yes, that's me." She said "You can call me Eve. Don't be ashamed and stay as long as you wish!"

They came in and looked at the house. It was big and beautiful. There was wood furniture in a corner, and on top of it there were a lot of pictures, including one that showed the front of the Egyptian Pyramids. In the photo, Ann's mother was dressed with an exploration outfit, together with a beautiful man, who had a short light brown hair, and brown eyes and was wearing exploration outfits as well and was smiling brightly.

"Um... This man here in the picture is your husband, Mrs. Midnite?" Tea asked, pointing to the photo.

Eve turned to Tea and smiled:

"I've already told you to call me Eve, and yes, that is him... We met in Egypt."

"Cool..." Joey looked at the Picture, impressed.

So Ann appeared, walking down the stairs.

"Oh, you came!" she ran and greet them, "I guess you've already met my mom... She just came back from a trip and will be here for some days!"

"That's right" Eve agreed, "now up, you can go upstairs."

"C'mon, let's go to my room!" Ann called them and went upstairs.

Once there, they entered her room, sitting on the floor. Ann closed the door and sat down with her friends.

"So, Ann... What do you want to talk about with us?" Yugi asked, curious.

She sighed and turned to him, "Before I speak... Yugi, can you... hmm, 'call' Yami?"

He stayed in silentfor a while, looking at her confusingly, but then said, "Alright..."

Yugi closed his eyes, and the Millennium Puzzle started to shine brightly. Ann watched impressed while her friend changed.

Then Yami opened his eyes and said to Ann, "So, what do you –" But before he could finish the sentence, Ann quickly grabbed his hands.

"Please, Yami..."

He got very scared, and kept looking at the girl, blushing and surprised, just like the way Tea and Joey looked to each other, and then back to Yami and Ann.

"Wh... What?" he asked, still scared.

"Teach me how to duel!!" she firmly asked him.

Everybody continued looking at the both, and then sat back in their places. Yami looked at Ann, relieved, and laughed.

"Of course!"

Ann smiled happily with the expectation of learning something so cool.

"But you don't need to ask like that, Ann... I would teach you anyway."

"Hehehe... It's because I was very anxious to learn..." she confessed, ashamed, "I'm going to enter the Battle City Tournament!"

"Really? Awesome!!" Joey said.

"Nice", Yami smiled, "So, do you want to start?"

"Yeah!" Ann agreed.

"Sit here near me, and I'll explain to you the rules."

She got up and sat beside Yami. Then they heard her mother calling them to eat something.

"You can go, we'll stay here", Ann said, while the others were going.

----

A while later, both Yami and Ann walked down the stairs to join their friends.

"I'm ready to duel!" Ann exclaimed, enthusiastically, "Now I just need a deck..."

"We can go to my Grandfathers shop", Yami suggested to Ann and the others.

Tea, Joey and Tristan agreed, and Ann turned to her mom, asking if she could go.

"Of course you can, dear!" Eve smiled.

"So let's go!" Tristan said, walking out of the house with the friends.

"Wait a second", Yami stopped, already outside, "I'm going to... get back to normal."

He made the Puzzle shine again, and the Yugi returned.

"Okay... Let's go!" he smiled.

----

They arrived to Mr. Mutou's store, Yugi and Ann in the front. Yugi's grandpa was cleaning the balcony, and smiled when they came in.

"Oh, hello Yugi! And who might this adorable girl be?"

"Hm... This is Ann, grandpa, she's a friend of ours from the school", Yugi explained, "She came here to buy some cards to make a deck."

"Ho ho, you came to the right place!" he pointed to the glass balcony, which had a lot of cards inside, "I have here a great variety of amazing cards!"

"Wow!" Ann looked, cheerfully, at the cards, "There are so many... and so awesome! But... I don't know if I can pay for them..."

"Ho ho ho... As Yugi's friend, I can make a special price for you." Solomon said and winked to the girl.

"Really? Oh, thank you!" She thanked, happily.

"Well... You can go along choosing", He said, "But you four can't see her cards! C'mon, go outside a little and come back later!"

Yugi and the others agreed confusingly, but went out anyway, because Solomon was right. So they let Ann decide for herself.

----

A few minutes later, Ann stepped out of the store, carrying a whole new deck in her hands.

"YAY, now I am totally ready to duel!" She laughed, cheerful.

Everybody smiled, and Yugi said:

"Now that you already have your deck, we need to practice..."

"Right!"

And then suddenly Joey entered in the middle of the conversation, shouting, "I'm gonna practice with you, Ann!!"

She stood looking at Joey, confused, the others with similar faces. Why, so suddenly, would he want to desperately duel with her?

"Umm... Okay, Joey" Ann said, still not understanding why. But she accepted the challenge, since she needed the training.

"Hmm... I think we still have Pegasus's Duel Arena... We can use it."

"Okay", Ann and Joey said.

They walked over to a special Duel Arena building, registered, and then stepped on to the platform, placing their decks on the indicated area. Once ready, they both drew their cards and yelled the traditional start quote:

"Let's duel!"

**Continue in the Next Chapter**


	5. Chapter 5: Ann's first duel: Joey!

**Chap. 5 – Ann's First Duel: Joey!**

"It's time to duel!"

Ann and Joey located themselves in the arena to start the duel. Joey was cheerful and curious to know what kind of cards Ann had. Besides that, he had insisted to be the first one to duel with her because he wanted to show off his skills.

'_Maybe she'll like me... If I show that I'm a good duelist!'_ Joey thought, hopeful.

"You can start!" Yugi said to both of them.

"Right!" Ann replied.

She and Joey drew their cards and started to think about their strategies. (LP 4000)

"I summon the Baby Dragon (ATK 1200/DEF 700) in Defense mode, and place two cards face down!" Joey began.

Ann looked at her cards and smiled. She picked one and placed it on the monster area.

"I summon the Princess of Tsurugi (ATK 900/DEF 700) in Attack mode... Now, attack the Baby Dragon!"

Joey got surprised, like the others, and Baby Dragon was destroyed. But since it was in Defense mode, Joey didn't lose any Life Points.

"Wow... Ann started well," Tea commented to Yugi.

"Yeah..." he smiled.

Joey drew another card, and then revealed one of his cards that was face down.

"I activate Jar of Greed!" He smiled, confident, "This spell card allows me to draw two more cards from my deck..." He picked up two cards, and activated the other spell card on his field.

"Monster Reborn!! Now I will summon my Baby Dragon again in attack mode. And now," He picked another card from his hand, "I summon the Time Wizard (ATK 500/DEF 400), and active it's effect!"

Time Wizard's clock hand started to turn, and six spaces appeared in the clock: in four of them, there was the image of a white skull, while on the other two, there was a picture of a golden crown. Ann watched, interested, while the hand was turned. Joey was hoping for it to stop on the crown.

The hand stopped, in one of the skulls.

"AWWW, damn it!" Joey exclaimed, and his two monsters were destroyed, causing a damage of 850 points to lower his Life Points to 3150.

"What bad luck..." Yugi, Tristan and Tea sighed.

Joey sighed too, and placed one more card face down.

"Now it's my turn..." Ann smiled. She drew one more card and chose another from her hand.

"I summon Nekogal #2 (ATK 1900/ DEF 2000) in Defense mode... and end my turn."

Joey then drew his card, placing it in his hand, and activated the spell card on his field.

"Scapegoat... With it I can summon four Tokens (ATK 0/DEF 0). Your turn, Ann!"

"Right... I discard one card from my hand, and draw two. Now I summon the Armed Ninja (ATK 300/DEF 300) in Attack mode, and attack one of the goats!"

One of the little monsters was destroyed, and then Joey continued.

"I summon Axe Raider (ATK 1700/DEF 1150)... and place two more cards face down. And now I attack the Armed Ninja!

Ann's monster was destroyed, and her Life Points were lowed to 2600.

"Oh... My turn," She said, "I'm going to draw one more card... And place Nekogal #2 in Attack mode! Destroy the Axe Raider with your claws!"

Joey's Life Points then went to 2950, while he picked up one more card, adding it with the other cards in his hand, and then summoning one more monster.

"Gearfried, the Iron Knight (ATK 1800/DEF 1600) in Defense mode."

Ann drew one card, and placed it on the field.

"I'll summon Gilasaurus (ATK 1400/DEF 400) in Attack mode and use Nekogal #2 to attack Gearfried!"

"Hum..." Joey was thinking ... He needed to attack her with a powerful monster, or he would lose.

"I summon the Rocket Warrior (ATK 1500/DEF 1300) and equip him with the spell card Legendary Sword, which raises his attack and defense by 300 points! (ATK 1800/DEF 1600) Attack Gilasaurus!

"Ah!" Ann exclaimed, and the monster was destroyed, causing a damage of 400 points, consequently lowering her Life Points to 2200.

Joey smiled and said, "You're very good, Ann!"

"Thanks... You too," She replied.

She turned back to her cards, drawing one more. As soon as she saw the card that she drew, Ann smiled cheerfully.

"Yes! Now I summon... The Red-Eyes Black Dragon (ATK 2400/DEF 2000)!!"

"WHAT??" Joey shouted.

"Huh??" Yugi and the others exclaimed, surprised.

----

"Re...Red-Eyes Black Dragon??"

Ann was intrigued.

"Wh... What's the problem?" she asked, confused.

Tea, Yugi and Tristan exchanged looks, confused as well.

"How... How did you get that card??" Joey asked, still surprised.

"Well... Do you remember when I said that I already had some cards?" she said, smiling, "This was one of them... But, really, what is the problem?"

Joey still didn't reply, so Yugi turned to him and said, "Well, Ann, Red-Eyes is a rare card, but you're not the only one who has it..."

Ann blinked multiple times, impressed, and Joey turned to her, "Yeah... You're right, Yugi. It's a very good card, Ann. You've got a lot of luck!"

"Thank you, Joey... But, do you have a Black Dragon, too?"

"Yes," He smiled, "But... Let's continue the duel!"

"Oh ... yes!" Ann exclaimed, "Now... I will attack the Rocket Warrior with my Black Dragon!"

Joey's Life Points fell to 2350, and he picked up another card.

"I summon the Panther Warrior (ATK 2000/DEF 1600) and sacrifice one Goat to attack Nekogal #2!"

Nekogal was destroyed and Ann lost 100 points (LP 2100).

Ann chose one of the cards in her hand and placed it on the field:

"I active the spell card Dragon's Treasure! It raises the Attack and Defense of one Dragon type monster by 300 points... So my Black Dragon now has 2700 Attack points and 2300 Defense points! Now attack the Panther Warrior!!!"

"Argh..." Joey moaned, while his points fell to 1650.

He drew one card, and observed his hand.

'_I can't believe it... Just spell cards, and none of them are useful to me now!'_

"Hmm... I'll pass this turn."

Ann nodded, and picked another card. There were still two Scapegoats on the field, so she made her play.

"I'll place one card face down... And destroy one Goat with the Princess of Tsurugi. Attack with your crystal blades!"

The token was destroyed, and Joey analyzed his situation. He still had one Goat on the field, and two cards face down.

"I summon the M-Warrior #2 (ATK 1000/DEF 500) and attack the Princess of Tsurugi!!"

Ann lost 100 Life Points, leaving her with 2000. She looked at the field and smiled.

"I will reveal my final card! The trap Deal of Phantom!"

All observers suddenly became frightened. She had saved the best card for last.

"It allows me to raise the attack points of one of my monsters by 100 for each monster that I have in my graveyard! And the monster that I choose... Is the Black Dragon(ATK 3100)!"

"Attack! Use your Hell Flame on the M-Warrior #2!!!"

With the difference of 2100 points between the two monsters, Joey's Life Points lowered to 0, giving the victory to Ann.

"I won!!!" She shouted, cheerful, punching the air.

Joey sighed in defeat. When the platform was lowered to the ground, he went to congratulate Ann, who was with his friends.

"Wow, you were amazing, Ann!" Tea exclaimed.

"Yeah, you mounted your deck very well, and created a great strategy!" Yugi said.

Joey walked over to Ann and shook hands with her, smiling.

"It was a great duel, Ann... You are really good."

"Are you sure that you've never dueled before? You were amazing!" Tristan said.

"Heh... Thanks, you guys," She thanked, happy for her first duel and first victory.

"Now we just have to prepare ourselves for Battle City!" Yugi exclaimed cheerfully.

"Yes!" They all said together.

**End of the 5th. Chapter**


	6. Chapter 6: The Battle City Registrations

**Chap. 6 – The Battle City Registrations**

Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan and Ann were in school. Because of the Battle City tournament, it was the last day of class, and everybody were very cheerful.

"Aaah, it's so awesome that we won't have to go to school!!" Joey exclaimed, stretching, "This tournament will be so cool!"

"We have to go to a place so we can register ourselves and receive the new Duel Disks," Yugi told the others, "But this new rule that exists... it's different..."

"New rule?" The friends asked, confused.

"Yes..." Yugi explained, "This rule states that if you lose any duel in the tournament, you lose your rarest card."

"REALLY??" Ann and Joey exclaimed.

"But it's not fair!" Tea said.

Yugi lowered his head and sighed, unhappy, and said:

"I know, but it's true. Kaiba invented this rule."

"Humph, it just had to be!" Joey said, irritated, "That guy just has to invent things to mess up with the other people!! Cocky!"

"Well, we are going just after class," Yugi said, "You coming with us, Ann?"

"Hmm... I don't know," she said thoughtful, "I think I'll go later... I have to go home first."

"Alright..." they said.

----

Later, Ann was at home, preparing herself. She dressed into the same outfit that she had used when she went to the Museum, and left home. Her friends had given to her the place's address, and when she went there, she saw the giant line to register.

She stayed in her place, waiting. When her turn came, the lady behind the balcony with a computer above looked at the table and slapped her own forehead, saying, "Oh, damn'it!"

Ann got surprised and said, distrustful:

"What happened? I can't register myself?"

The lady looked at her and gave an apologetic smile.

"Oh, no my dear, it isn't with you. It's... A boy was here to register himself, but he forgot his Map Card."

Ann looked to the transparent card with a little piece of a map on it under the glass, and the lady picked up it and gave it to her.

"Could you give it to him? He was with a motorcycle here around the corner. He can't have gone very far."

"Ah, right!"

Ann left the store quickly, stopping outside of the door. Looking to the both sides of the sidewalk, she spotted the boy walking over his motorcycle. She started to run over to him, with the card in her hand.

"Excuse me...! Wait!"

He stopped when he heard her calling, and turned around. Ann immediately stopped, awestruck. The boy blinked slowly and looked at her. He had a tanned skin, light blonde hair, and beautiful, lavender eyes. He was wearing a lot of golden bracelets, and a purple top with black pants. Ann felt her face blushing and just gave a step ahead.

He raised one eyebrow, intrigued. She gulped, and extended the card to him.

"Uh... hum... You forgot your Map Card..."

He looked at her hand, surprised, and took the card back.

"It's true... Thank you."

She blushed more, and he turned to go away. The girl realized something and said, "Wait!"

He stopped and turned again.

"What?"

"What... What's your name?" Ann asked, ashamed.

He looked at the ground thoughtful, and drove back to the other side. When the girl thought he was leaving, he said, "Marik. Marik Ishtar."

'_Marik...'_ Ann thought.

----

Back at the store, she stood in front of the balcony, but the lady who had talked with her wasn't there. Ann got anxious, looking for her. Then she appeared from a door behind the balcony, holding a bag and leaving.

"Hey!" Ann called her, "Where are you going??"

"Oh, don't worry, you still can enroll yourself." The lady smiled, "My shift is over, but another person will be here to attend to you."

She left, and Ann kept waiting. A few minutes later, a tall man, wearing glasses and a bandana on his head appeared.

"So, you are here to inscribe yourself to the tournament?" he said, sitting down.

"Yes."

"Right. Tell me your name."

"Ann Midnite."

The man typed on the computer, and waited a little. Then he made an intrigued face, and said, "Your name isn't here."

"What? But... What do you mean?" She asked incredulously.

"Are you a registered duelist?" he asked.

Ann understood and made a sad face.

"No... I just started to duel not long time ago."

"You never participated in any tournament?? Duelist Kingdom, nothing?"

She shook her head negatively.

"Well, you can't participate."

"No??" she widened her eyes.

"If you don't have a registered I.D., you can't."

"B-but...! There's no other way?" she asked sadly.

The man thought for a minute and had an idea.

"Tell me what your rarest card is, little girl."

She blinked, confused, but said, "Well... Actually I have two."

He looked surprised.

"Two?"

"Yes", She nodded, "I have the Red-Eyes Black Dragon."

"Red-Eyes? Humm... And the other?"

Ann picked up one of the cards of her deck, and showed it to the man. He made a frightened face, but dissimulated and said, "Well... Those are very good cards." He looked to the computer, and back to Ann, "Hmm... Alright then. From now on, you'll have a duelist I.D."

She smiled happy and thanked him.

"Thank you!"

He gave her the Map card and the Duel Disk. She took it and left.

When she left, the man at the balcony gave a wicked smile.

'_Huh... The Master will be satisfied.'_

**End of the 6th.** **Chapter**


	7. Chapter 7: Here With Me

**Chap. 7 – Here With Me**

On the night of the day that they had registered themselves, Yugi and the others were together, in the street. There, they met with Ann, who had said that she had registered herself, as well, and showed them her Duel Disk.

"Nice, Ann!" Joey said, "Well, guess what's gonna happen tomorrow?" He looked anxious.

"What?"

"Serenity's operation!" He exclaimed cheerfully.

Yugi, Tea and Tristan were all very happy, wishing his sister good luck. Only Ann was confused.

"Um... Who is Serenity?" She asked, puzzled.

They looked at her and laughed, saying, "It's true... You still doesn't know her!"

"Serenity is my sister," Joey smiled.

"Sister? Oh, how cool!" She exclaimed, "I didn't know that you have a sister, Joey!"

"It's because... Well, our parents are divorced, so I never get to see her."

Ann hesitated for a moment, and then continued on with another question.

"But why does she have to have a surgery?"

"She can't see very well ... So, last year, I participated in the Duelist Kingdom tournament to win the money for her surgery."

"Hmm... That's great, Joey! I hope everything goes well," She smiled.

"Thanks. I think I'll go to the hospital now... The surgery is tomorrow, but I promised to be there for her and stay there for the night," He explained.

They said goodbye, and Joey left. After a while, the rest of the gang left, as well.

----

Joey ran as fast as he could to get to the hospital quickly. Passing through an alley, he was stopped by three men who stood in his way.

"Hey, excuse me, I'm kind of in a hurry here!" He said, impatient.

The man in the middle smiled and said, "Not until you duel with me."

----

The next day, Ann and the gang went to visit Serenity in the hospital to give her support before the surgery. But they were surprised when they arrived and didn't find Joey at his sister's side. According to his mother, who was there, as well, Joey hadn't even appeared yet.

"But what happened...?" Tea asked, scared.

"It's not his style!" Tristan was worried too.

"Serenity won't let anyone into her room until her bother gets here," Ms. Wheeler said, "But the doctor has other patients to attend to today!"

Tristan tried to knock on the door, asking if he could come in.

"No! I don't want anybody in here ... I just want my brother!"

They all exchanged looks. They had to look for Joey and find out what happened with him, otherwise his sister wouldn't have the surgery. Ann turned to his mother.

"Do you mind if I...?" She asked, distrustful.

"No, but I think that my daughter won't let you in..." She replied and sighed, worried. Where would Joseph be? Even after separating the children for years, she was still worried about her son.

"Serenity?" Ann knocked on the door.

In the room, the girl raised her head. From whom was that voice that she didn't know?

"Who is...?" She asked.

Ann opened the door slowly, looking at Serenity, who was sitting down on the bed, her eyes closed. She looked extremely sad...

"I'm a friend of Joey... My name is Ann."

She sat on the bed. Serenity asked, intrigued, "Friend?"

"Yeah," Ann smiled, "Can I stay here while Joey's not here?"

She nodded, but wanted to know why her brother hadn't kept his promise.

"I know that he was coming here. Something may happened..." Ann said, and added, seeing Serenity's expression, "But I'm sure that he's alright! Our friends have gone to look for him."

Ann tried to talk with the girl, asking some things, making Serenity fell better with the company of this kind girl.

----

After looking for hours, Tristan came back with Joey on his motorcycle, and joined his friends, who were asking him what had happened. He explained everything, how the Rare Hunters had appeared from nowhere, and stolen his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Yugi and Tea were very surprised, but they tried hard to comfort their friend.

"The wounds are nothing... But that guy's gonna see! I'm going to get my Red-Eyes back!!!"

----

Ann looked out the window, seeing the sunset. Why were they were taking so long...?

"Wow, this braid is getting beautiful!" She smiled, working on Serenity's hair, "You should see it!"

She had been surprised that Ann had stayed with her all this time, and how wonderous she was. When she heard Ann say such a flattering compliment, she lowered her head, feeling a bit depressive, and said, "I wish I could see it..."

"Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't want to make you sad."

Serenity wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled.

"Don't worry... I don't mind, because I think you are very sweet."

Ann smiled, and concluded that she had a new friend now. Then she heard some movement outside the room, in the hallway.

"I'll be back... I'm going to see if they have arrived!"

When she left the room, Joey was coming down the hallway from the direction of the lobby, with her friends behind him. Ann then realized how hurt he was, and ran to him.

"What happened, Joey?!"

He was surprised to see her running to him in such a worried way.

"Oh, Ann, It was horrible!!" He said, dramatically, hoping to get more sympathy.

"Didn't he just say that it was nothing?" Tea whispered to the others, doubtful.

"Some huge guys appeared, with hoods and dark outfits, and surrounded me in a dark and disgusting alley!" He continued, speaking spectacularly, "I tried to fight, but there were a lot of them... And then they had challenged me to a duel. I dueled, of course, but they were too good... and took my Red-Eyes."

Ann placed her hands over her mouth, shocked.

"But at least you are okay..." Ann said after a pause, "Now that you've, I think I'll drink something... And call my mother."

She left, and Joey went to the door of his sister's room. He knocked and said, "Serenity? It's me... I'm sorry for taking so long... I'm an idiot."

Almost immediately, she opened the door and hugged him, tears in her eyes.

"It's alright, brother...," She sobbed quietly, "Now that you are here."

He smiled and hugged her back. Then he saw Serenity's hair.

"Uh... Who made this beautiful braid on you?"

His sister raised her head, wiping her eyes, and said, "It was Ann... She stayed here with me while you were gone."

Joey looked at the corridor, in the direction that she had left from.

'_Ann...'_

**End of 7th Chapter**


	8. Chapter 8: The MR Duelist and the Return

**Chap. 8 – The Metal Raider Duelist and the Return of the Dragon**

The next morning, around nine 'o clock, Ann stood in the city Plaza, wearing her new Duel Disk that was attached to her arm. The day of the Tournament had finally come! There were many other duelists there at the Plaza, as well; all of them wore Duel Disks, their appearance making them seem like good opponents. A huge dirigible appeared in the sky, sending shadows blanketing over the city below, and Kaiba's face appeared on a gigantic screen attached to the blimp.

"Greetings, duelists, and welcome to Battle City!" He started with a confident expression, "All of you that I've decided deserved to be in this Tournament have received a Duel Disk, which contains a chip, allowing me to know your exact location at any given point and observe your active dueling strategies. As you already know, the loser is required to give the winner of the duel his or her rarest card, as well as the Locator Card that you've received. The final eight duelists will advance to the semifinals, which will happen in a hidden location. You'll know where it is when you win six Locator Cards, which together will reveal the destination." The brunette paused for a moment, letting his words sink in, then, "Alright, everything I just explained is given to you in your Duelist Rulebook in which you received with your Duel Disk. These are the rules, and now that you know them, let the Tournament begin!"

The gigantic screen turned off, and everybody yelled cheerfully. The Battle City Tournament had finally begun! This filled Ann up with an excited emotion that she couldn't fight off. Looking around, Ann started to think…

­_'Hmm... But how should I challenge somebody?_' she asked herself, confused, '_I just have to go up to them and ask?'_

Looking around again, she saw that many of the duelists were already going away. She frantically began to look from someone to duel with. A boy with very dark brown hair, which was tied in a ponytail, bright green eyes and golden ring-like earrings, was standing in the middle of the Plaza, deep in thought. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing, as well?

"Hi!" Ann greeted as she walked over to him. He was wearing a black shirt, a white _Ankh_ pictured on it, dark jeans, and lots of spike-bracelets.

"Oh, hi!" He replied, surprised. Looking down at her arm, he saw her Duel Disk and smiled, "So, you are a duelist, too?"

"Yeah, my name's Ann", She shook hands with him gratefully.

"I'm Erik. Hmm... What about a duel?"

As she activated her Duel Disk, Ann smiled in return, full of anxiousness, relief, and most of all, determination.

"Sure!"

----

Back at the Kaiba Corporation building, the entrepreneur was watching another duel. Yugi and a strange man, who had hacked into the corporation's computers to infiltrate himself into the tournament, were dueling; despite Mokuba's protests, Kaiba had decided not to interrupt the duel and disqualify the hacker. According to his ID, the Rare Hunter's cards were not registered, meaning that they were fakes. While Mokuba continued to complain to his brother about kicking the Rare Hunter out of the tournament, a girl that was working on the computers turned in her chair to face the CEO, "Mister Kaiba, another Duel Disk has been activated. Do you want...?"

"Don't interrupt me." He snapped back coldly. All he was interested in at the moment was Yugi's duel, pondering over the fact that the man had a weird dueling method. But it was an interesting duel… not to mention fun to watch as his rival desperately brooded over what the Rare Hunter would do next.

----

Meanwhile, Ann was preparing herself for her duel with Erik. This was her first real duel in the tournament, and she had never before felt this much pressure. Placing her deck in the proper area, Ann picked up her first five cards. She still didn't know exactly how this worked, but Yugi had explained to her where to put each type of card in each different mode. Taking a deep breath, she looked at her hand, and then placed a monster on the field. (LP: 4000)

"I summon the Lady Assailant of Flames (1500/1000) in Attack Mode, and then end my turn!"

Now it was Erik's turn. Ann watched as he examined his hand and then placed a card onto his Duel Disk.

"I'll place a monster face down in Defense Mode, and set card face down."

He had a face down monster and a Magic or Trap card... Ann didn't know if she should attack, but she had to risk it.

"I summon Milus Radiant (300/250) in Attack Mode and activate its effect! While Milus is on the field, the attack of all Earth attributed monsters rises by 500 points, while the attack of all Wind attributed monsters decreases by 400 points. So the attack of my Milus Radiant is now 800! Okay..." she looked at the field thoughtfully, "I'll attack your face down monster with the Lady Assailant of Flames!"

The Assailant picked up her dagger and jumped gracefully over to the face down monster, but stopped in the middle of her strike. Erik smirked.

"I activate my Trap card, Negate Attack! Now you can't attack my monster, and your Battle Phase ends!"

He sent his Trap card to the Graveyard, now that its purpose had been used. Ann grimaced, thinking of her next move; she could just attack the next turn. While developing a basic strategy, Ann ended her turn.

"Right... Now I summon Akakieisu (1000/800) in Attack Mode and attack Milus Radiant!" Erik declared.

The sorcerer quickly destroyed Ann's monster, making her lose 200 Life Points (LP: 3800). '_Ugh...' _Drawing one more card, she looked down at her hand. Ann placed a face down card on her field, and then summoned a monster in Attack Mode.

"I summon Aqua Madoor (1200/2000)... Your turn, Erik."

He nodded. "I'll flip my monster into Attack Mode (Cannon Soldier 1400/1300). Your turn, Ann."

"Right," She smiled. Her strategy was working, "I activate my Trap card!" Erik's eyes suddenly grew wide with surprise. "Curse of Aging! I discard my entire hand, which, in turn, decreases the Attack and Defense points of your monsters by 500!"

"Aah!" he screamed in surprise, only watching as his monsters grew weaker (Akakieisu 500/300) (Cannon Soldier 900/800).

Ann ended her turn, and Erik declared, "Now I activate my Trap card, Compensation of Blood! By paying 500 Life Points, I can summon one monster this turn. Now appear, Masked Sorcerer (900/1400)!" Then, he ended his turn. (LP: 3500)

Ann paused, wondering what possible threat this new monster could bring, but quickly brushed the thought aside, "Now, Aqua Madoor, attack with your water wall!"

The magician conjured a huge wave and destroyed Erik's Masked Sorcerer, making him lose 300 Life Points (LP: 3200).

"Wow...! You're good, huh?" he asked, admired. Ann winked in reply. Then he drew a card and placed it on the field, "Now I summon the Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) in Attack Mode and destroy the Lady Assailant of Flames!"

As a result, Ann lost 400 Life Points (LP: 3400). Erik ended his turn by switching Cannon Soldier to Defense Mode, just in case his opponent had more good cards to play.

Ann continued the duel by drawing her next card, and then summoned Nekogal #2 (1900/2000) and attacked the Archfiend Soldier. Because they had the same Attack Points, both were destroyed as a result.

"Now I attack Akakieisu with my Aqua Madoor!"

Erik consequently lost 700 more Life Points, lowering it to 2500. Drawing one more card, Ann's opponent placed another monster in Attack Mode.

"I'll go ahead and summon Giga-Tech Wolf (1200/1400)... Back to you, Ann."

"Right," Ann nodded, "I place a card face down... And summon Gilasaurus (1400/400)! Destroy his Wolf!"

The Giga-Tech Wolf was destroyed by the dinosaur's deadly jaws, making Erik lose 200 Life Points (LP: 2300). Before she ended her turn, Ann decided to attack his Cannon Soldier, as well, but as it was in Defense Mode, its owner didn't lose anymore Life Points. Beginning to become frightened, Erik picked up another card… rather, a very powerful card.

"I summon Dark Blade (1800/1500) and destroy your Aqua Madoor!"

Ann received damage of 600 Life Points, which left her with a decreasing total of 2800 Life Points remaining. After drawing a card, she analyzed her hand. So far, Ann's luck had been averaged to an equal amount, but what was held for her in the future? Suddenly, an idea hit her. After quickly remembering from a few moves past, Ann's heart began to race as she picked up her newly-drawn card from her hand and placed it on the field.

"I activate my Spell card, Monster Reborn!" Erik's eyes grew in sudden fear as he realized the possibilities this card opened for his opponent, "I take it you know what this card does?" Ann asked tentatively, starting to enjoy this feeling of victory, "Okay, then…"

A card was immediately pulled out from her graveyard pile hidden within the Duel Disk, waiting for Ann to pick it up. "So now I'll special summon the Beast of Talwar (2400/2150) from my graveyard and destroy your Dark Blade!"

Both monsters collided fiercely, but the Beast of Talwar's demonic swords were much more dominating that the others, resulting in Erik's Dark Blade being shredded to pieces. Erik lost 600 Life Points (LP: 1700) due to the battle, but there was something more important going on in his mind.

"Wait… I don't remember you discarding Beast of Talwar to the graveyard," He observed confusedly. Ann could only smirk at his helplessness.

"Remember when I played my Curse of Aging card? I had discarded my entire hand to activate its effect." Erik's eyes glinted with a hint of realization. "Fortunately for me, you didn't know what was in my hand, including my Beast of Talwar! That is how it got into my graveyard."

"Woah…" Erik was awed by the fact of how good his opponent took to the duel. She seemed focused and determined all the way, and this is where it had taken her. He suddenly began to feel an admiring thought about her, making him finally accept her as a true duelist.

But there was still a duel in place, and Erik was not going to back down because of one good card up against him. He quickly analyzed his hand and got an idea. He had two cards that could form to make a monster powerful enough to defeat her, but he still required a Polymerization card. He decided to wait, keeping the two cards in his hand.

"I'll place a monster in face down Defense Mode, and end my turn."

Ann had another idea and formulated her strategy.

"Now I think you're in trouble, Erik..." She smiled triumphantly, "I play the Magic card, Stop Defense! Now your monster must be flipped face up in Attack Mode! (Bladefly 600/700). And now I'll activate the Trap card I played a few turns ago... The Rope of Life! By discarding all the cards in my hand, I can bring back a monster from my Graveyard and add 800 points to its Attack!!"

"_What?"_ He exclaimed, his heart jumping in his chest.

A long, shimmering rope appeared in the middle of the field, beginning to rise up a monster from the dead depths of the ground, bringing back the Lady Assailant of Flames, now with 2300 Attack Points.

"Destroy Bladefly!" Ann declared.

The Assailant struck swiftly, and the monster exploded, the difference between the two being 1700 points, the exact 1700 points that remained of Erik's Life Points.

And through it all, Ann was feeling wonderful about herself. This was it! She had won! Her very first duel had been a success, and it was all thanks to Joey's teachings. She felt like hugging him at that moment, to thank him for all that he did for her, but Joey was no where to be found. It lowered her spirits a bit to see that he had not been there to watch her win, but all in all, it had been a good, and fair, duel. She was proud of herself.

"Ah, man!" Frustratingly slapping his own forehead, Erik became deeply disappointed and mad with himself. Both opponents deactivated their Duel Disks, and were now approaching one another to shake hands. "Wow, you were great..." Erik sullenly praised, "You're a very good duelist."

"Thank you... But I'm not really all that good," she modestly replied, flustered, "You're a great duelist, too."

"Thanks. Well... according to the rules, I have to give you my rarest card..." Erik quickly looked through his deck, discouraged, "I was intending to use it, but I didn't have the opportunity."

Ann was about to say that if the card had a big meaning to him, he didn't have give it to her, but the boy extended his arm toward her and revealed his rarest card.

"The Skull Knight... Wow, it's a very powerful monster!" Ann exclaimed, "You don't need to..."

"Oh, it's ok; you won it fairly and deserve it. Oh, there's my Locator Card, too." He quickly handed her the glass tournament card, and his rarest card, as well.

"It was a pleasure to meet and duel with you!" Ann complimented as she picked up the cards and smiled cheerfully.

"The same for me! See ya!" He waved enthusiastically and left the Plaza. Ann waved, too, happy at how things had turned out for her.

----

Yami had defeated the repulsive Rare Hunter that had stolen Joey's Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Despite the fact that he was using a deck full of Exodia pieces, Yami's strategy had worked, and he had ended up discovering who was in charge of the strange events that had been happening lately. '_Marik... You're __**not **__going to get the Three Egyptian God cards and my Millennium Puzzle!'_ When he had tried to give Joey's precious card back, the blond had denied it and had explained to him that Yugi deserved it, considering that he had won it justly. Yugi would need to have lots of powerful cards in order to win this tournament, and Joey still had his Time Wizard, which would suffice for his rare card.

Joey had also witnessed the strange conversation with Marik, which had taken place though the Rare Hunter, whom Marik controlled with his Millennium Item, the Millennium Rod. After Joey had heard about Marik's evil intentions, he had given a promise to Yugi, vowing to help and protect him whenever his friend was in need of it.

'_Yugi, we'll whoop this Rare Hunter 'goon squad' so hard, they won't know what hit 'em! They'll be sorry they ever decided to mess with us! Don't worry, Yugi. I got your back.' _That is what Joey had said to Yugi. That is what Joey had vowed.

After that, Joey had left to hang around the city with Tristan to see if he could get another duel. Around that time, they ran into Ann, who was waving to another boy happily.

"Hey, Ann!" Joey greeted. She spotted them coming over to her, and ran to greet them.

"Hi, Joey, Tristan! I just won my first duel!" She said cheerfully, "And look what I got!" She showed them her newly-won rare card.

"Woah, how wicked! This is a very good card!" They exclaimed. She nodded in reply.

"It was awesome to win!" She laughed triumphantly. The two boys exchanged looks and then stared at herm scared. "What?" she asked.

"Eh, Ann, you're… different…" Joey observed, surprised.

"It must be because she's hanging out with us a bit too much!" Tristan joked, "If she continues to be like this, she may become a criminal" he commented to the other, pretending to suddenly become fearful.

"So, you have to get away from us, Ann!" Joey said, dramatically abated, "For your own good!"

She laughed hysterically and said, "It's not that... I'm just getting used to the game" Ann blinked teasingly, "Now that I already know everyone and have gotten accustomed with this city..."

"Ah." The both exchanged looks again, "Well, changing the subject, Yami just dueled with the guy who had stole Joey's Red-Eyes," Tristan explained.

"Really? You got it back?"

"Yeah... But I left it with Yugi for a while. He'll need it." Joey answered, smiling.

"Oh... I see. Well, I think I'll go now..."

Joey opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Tristan realized this, and grabbed him by his neck roughly.

"Ahaa!! I've seen that weird look on your face a lot these days! You like her, don't you?" He laughed triumphantly at his discovery and started to rub and mess up his friend's hair.

"W-Wha?! I don't know what you're talking about, Tristan!" The blond replied, ashamed and nervous.

"Don't try to deny it! I'm your friend, dude... I know when you're lying. So go over there and talk to her!"

"A-aah... I don't know Tristan..."

"Go on, you idiot!" Tristan persuaded, punching Joey's head.

"Argh... Ok! Ann...!" Joey nervously called as he stiffly ran over to her. Ann turned midway to see him running up.

"What's up, Joey?"

"Uh... I was thinking... Can I hang around with you?" Joey asked, his cheeks slightly turning red.

"Oh, alright then!"

They walked around the city, talking, sometimes stopping to see if anyone was dueling, and then they went to eat ice cream. Later, Ann called Joey over to take some pictures in a photo boot.

"Ha ha, these pictures turned out to be very funny!" He said, looking at the funny faces they had taken together.

"Yep..." She smiled, "Hey Joey, I know that you left you Black Dragon with Yugi, but you're happy to have it back from the Rare Hunters, aren't you?"

"Yes, of course..."

"If someone had stolen my Black Dragon, or any of my cards, I would have kicked his ass!" Ann punched her hand in the air, angry. Joey took a few steps away from her, frightened by her sudden firey attitude. But a question was burning inside of him, so he stepped closer to her again and built up his courage.

"Eeeh... Ann, I would like to know..." He started, blushing, "Do you... Do you like me?"

She watched him for a moment, a little confused, and then replied, "Of course, Joey! You're my best friend!" And smiled at him.

'_Best friend... She said best friend...!' _Joey lamented hopelessly, turning his back to her.

"Why do you want to know, Joey?" she asked, distrustful.

He got scared, turning around quickly, with his hand on the back of his head.

"Aaah, nothing really! You're my best friend, too."

"That's good..." She smiled and looked at the Plaza's clock, "Oh, I have to go! Good luck with your duels, Joey!"

"Hm... Thanks. I wish you luck, too!"

She left, but Joey continued to stand where he was for a few long moments, grieving silently, before going back to look for a challenger. Not far away from where he stood, a man wearing a black cape was standing in the shadows, watching them both. He said something to another through a walkie-talkie. The person who replied was the man's master.

'_Huh... So this is one of the Pharaoh's friends. He and the other may become useful to me in the future...'_ Marik thought, a new plan formulating in his head. Who would be the next slave that poor Yugi would have to face?

**End of the 8****th.**** Chapter**


	9. Chap 9:Infinite Power! Ultimate Monster

**Chap. 9 – Infinite Power! The Ultimate Monster**

As time continued to pass, the Battle City Tournament was becoming more intense. Yugi, Joey, and Mai had already gained, respectively, three, four, and four Locator Cards, pushing them closer to the semifinals. Marik was proceeding nicely, as well, with the help of his servants, the Rare Hunters. Thanks to them, he already had almost all of the Locator Cards needed to qualify himself for the finals, not to mention a bunch of rare cards at his disposal. At that moment, he was sending Strings, the Silent Puppet, to defeat Yugi in a duel, using his almighty Egyptian God card, while he was approaching the city in his ship. He had already warned his enemy of his eventual encounter with Strings, his future experience with the power of his Egyptian God card... and of the horror to which he should prepare himself for.

Walking down the street, Ann was thinking about Battle City. There were lots of powerful duelists around, and many rare and strong cards to face. She intently watched duels happening all around her, but she found they did not help... She imagined how Yugi and Joey were going. She knew that they were very talented, and had more experience than her. '_Aaah...' _she sighed, '_They'll probably get to the finals quickly... But I wanted to make it, too..!'_ Ann was a little discouraged. But then she raised her head and thought, '_Wait a minute! I can't give up!! I know I hardly have a chance at getting to the finals, but if I don't try, I won't know!'_ With her spirit renewed, she left running to see if she could find a challenger. But the more she ran, the fewer duelists she saw. When she did find some, they were already disqualified. Starting to get worried, Ann slowed down to a walk, imagining if a duelist with a Locator Card even existed. She only had three of her own, counting the one she had gained when she registered.

After several minutes, she stopped and sat down on a bench. Looking around, she noticed that there weren't too many people there.

"Wierd... I hope that there's more people in another part of the city..." Ann sighed. "But I'm already tired from running!" Suddenly, the sky got darker and thunder started to fill the sky with a loud roar. She shot up, startled by the strange and swift change in weather.

"Hm... As usual, the weather guy got it wrong again," she complained, trying to brush off her anxiety. But then a huge beam of light fell from the sky and connected to the ground in a spot not too far from her location. A gigantic pair of red wings ominously rose above the surrounding buildings. Voiceless in astonishment, Ann couldn't begin to think of what they were attached to. So, curiosity taking a hold of her, she ran in the direction of the lightning.

--

Meanwhile, to the side of a large waterway, Yugi was loosing a duel to Marik, who was speaking through his mind slave, Strings. The Spell card that the enemy had placed on the field, the Nightmare Steel Cage, had detained him for two turns. Currently, Yugi only had Buster Blader (ORIGINAL ATK 2600 - CURRENT ATK 3100/DEF 2300), two cards faced down, and Kuriboh (ATK 300/DEF 200) in Defense Mode... But Marik's Egyptian God, Slifer the Sky Dragon, was too powerful, due to the fact that every card in Strings' hand gave it 1000 attack points. To make matters worse, Marik had activated a string of combos that, in the long run, made Slifer indestructible! With a card that overrides the rules and lets Marik draw as many cards as he wants, therefore making Slifer stronger with each card, and a monster that could not be destroyed, the door to defeating Marik did not appear to be open.

--

As Ann arrived at the dueling area where she saw the huge wings, she became horrified. Yugi was dueling with a sinister-looking mimic, and right in the middle of the field was an enormous red dragon with two mouths full of sharp teeth and an incomparable attack power. With eyes of fear, Yugi turned towards Ann's direction, and, spotting her, shouted, "Ann? What are you doing here?!"

"I... I was looking for someone to duel with, when I saw this dragon's wings appearing from nowhere!" she replied, frightened, "But what kind of monster **is** that?!"

"I can't answer now, but you cannot stay here!"

She hesitated. She wanted to know more about the monster, and how, being so formidable, it was included in the opponent's deck. '_Speaking of the opponent, who is this guy? He's so freaky... And what's with his voice...?'_

'_Who...?' _Marik wondered. But it didn't really matter. There was no possible way Yugi could win his Egyptian God card, especially with his ultimate and indestructible combination.

Despite what Yugi had said, Ann stayed to watch. What was even more unbelievable to Ann was that Yugi was loosing the duel, something that Ann never would have thought possible. She watched in shock as her friend fell to his knees, as if all hope had escaped him. _'H-__How__?! __He's going to give up? But...Yugi never gives up! Is he saying that there's no way to defeat that dragon?! __It can't __be__... __No monster is indestructible!!' _She knew that Yugi would never give up, no matter how hard the challenge was. He couldn't stop! Yugi was one of the best duelists in the world, **if** not the best, and he could not loose... One of the things that she knew, and he should know, as well, was that there was no such thing as giving up because there is always hope to win! Ann had never dueled in her life, but with Yugi and the gang's help, she had become an official duelist. And now, she was in the tournament to win, just like her friends, because she had their support and her own confidence. But why couldn't Yugi see that?

Suddenly, when she was about to yell at Yami, Kaiba appeared, along with a boy that she assumed was his younger brother.

"What are you doing on the ground, Yugi? Get up!" he exclaimed, "Are you going to fall now just because you found a strong enemy? You're **my rival**, which means that you can't lose to anybody else! Defeat God, and keep going with your head raised!"

Yami and Ann looked at Kaiba, surprised and surprised. Then, feeling that she should help Yugi, as well, she turned to him and shouted, "That's it, Yugi! You can beat this guy!"

He didn't know what it was, but with their words of encouragement, Yugi felt new strength flow through him. With his faith renewed, he stood up and said, facing Strings, "You are right. I will defeat God!"

--

After a few turns of defending himself, and Slifer's strength rising even higher, Yugi finally found a way to beat the Egyptian God. Its power was not limitless! If Marik's deck's cards were all drawn, he would automatically lose the duel! Therefore, Yugi made up the perfect strategy with this tactic in mind. He used the Spell card Monster Reborn to bring back Buster Blader, which had been destroyed earlier, to his field. Because of this, Marik/Strings drew three more cards due to the effect of Card of Safe Return (which allows him to draw three cards every time a monster is summoned); Slifer's attack was now 14,000 points. Activating its Second Mouth, taking 2000 Attack points off of the opponent's monster, Buster Blader survived with 1100 Attack points.

Yami then commanded Buster Blader to attack Slifer, but Revival Jam, which can revive on its own, intercepted its hit. Then he activated the Spell card Brain Control, which allowed him to control one of the adversary's monsters.

Marik laughed hysterically. "This won't work! You can't control God! Spell cards don't have any effect on it!!" Victory was in the bag… or so Marik thought.

"I won't control Slifer... But Revival Jam!" Yugi replied, triumphantly smiling.

Then, Revival Jam passed over to Yugi's side, and, considering this as a new summoning, Slifer's Second Mouth was activated, attacking the newly allied monster. But Revival Jam always revives itself after an attack, and every time this happens, Marik/Strings must draw three more cards. This eventually became an endless loop, with Slifer endlessly attacking and Marik drawing, raising the dragon's power. There was no way for him to stop it, for all of the pieces of the puzzle were in place to force Marik to eventually run out of cards to draw. Yugi had won.

"No!! Damn you, Pharaoh! You will pay... Just wait, because my other Egyptian God card is even more powerful than this one!" Marik roared, furious, "I shall soon arrive in Domino, and my Rare Hunters are all over town! Maybe one of your friends would make a good mind slave, hmm? ...What do you think?"

Yugi and Ann gasped in horror. "Stay away from them!" Yugi exclaimed. But Marik was not listening, for he had already left Strings' mind, whose empty body fell to the ground like a lump. Yugi, mindlessly grabbing Slifer the Sky Dragon from Mokuba's outstretched hand, he noticed Ann coming down to meet with him.

"Yugi!" She exclaimed the moment she got close enough to him. "What was that 'Egyptian God' thing? And... Who was that weird guy?" she asked, motioning her hand over to Strings' body.

"I'm sorry Ann, but I have to go now!" Yugi turned around, running in the direction of downtown with Kaiba right behind him. "I have to find Joey, Tristan, and Tea!"

Ann stood there in confusion as he ran away. Something disturbing was happening... People observing, overly powerful monsters, threats... If no one would explain anything her, then she would just have to find out by herself.

**End of the 9****th.**** Chapter**


End file.
